A 51-year-old man who underwent a heart transplant operation was fit enough to travel to Croatia to scale a mountain just three months after his life-saving operation.
Noel Convey, from Dunboyne, Co Meath, was diagnosed with cardiac myopathy, a swelling of the heart, three years ago.
He spent several months on a balloon pump in Dublin's Mater Hospital while waiting for a suitable donor to be found, which he said provided him with time to assess his priorities in life.
"That time really changed my whole approach. It made me realise that saying what you feel and doing what you wish to is very important. Standing on top of that mountain with my wife really made me realise just how fortunate I was to be given a second chance."
A father of three and a pharmaceutical salesman, Convey said that once he fell seriously ill, he knew what lay in store, having seen his father undergo a heart transplant operation prior to his.
Speaking ahead of Organ Donor Awareness Week, Convey said he believes that anybody who has spent time with a person waiting for a transplant and seen the suffering their family endures would realise how great a gift donating their organs can be.
"A young woman who was a family friend passed away just after I had my operation and having seen what our family had gone through, she told her husband Martin that she wanted her organs to be donated."
He also said it is important that people who intend to donate organs make their preference clear to their families, as at the end of the day they have the final say as to whether or not it happens.
"It is not enough to go to a chemist shop and get a card and stick it in the back of your driving licence. You need to inform your family of your wishes because it is not easy for people to be asked to donate a loved one's organs when they are in a seriously ill condition."
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